Graduation

thank you to all the amazing teachers who got me through high school

best picture at prom

YAY!! 43 days!!!

final reflection

Some last thoughts about this class.

i though that this class is one of the best classes i've taken at beaver. it felt really good to be able to come up here everyday and be able to work on something that was completely made up by me. i think the amount of direction and support we got was the perfect amount. i am pretty happy with the work that i was able to make this term i just wish i had like six more months to keep working. i feel like i have just gotten into the swing of things and now i have to stop. i think that i did not fully comprehend the amount of time that we had for the class and my initial plan was completely unrealistic for the time we had. however i think that i was able to spend enough time on the things that i will be showing to be proud of them.

Definite things going in the gallery:

- painting of girl

-bird video

- cranes

hopefuls:

- drawing of david

- drawing of skull

even though most of the actual drawing of the two were not done during the class i think that they will be able to tie all of my pieces together well and that was something that i was nervous about before.

the most important thing that i learned during this class is how to find things that independently i am proud of and have the drive to keep working on. i feel very committed to all of the work i have been doing and i think that it is really important to feel that since there is so much pressure on these works. since we had no outside parameters for the work we were doing everything we made is a direct reflection on our sensibilities as artists. knowing that is a lot of pressure and i think that it drove me to hopefully make the best work that i can

over all this class was amazing and the best part of my day.

critique number 2

Ideas:

- find a way to tie all the pieces together

- make the bird fly around the school

- make a promo type thing for the gallery by having it fly around pieces there

Painting

started a new painting. im not sure about the size of the head yet. i also need to tweak the colors a little

Second raven video

this is a more real version of what i hope to do

Critique

Ideas for flip book stuff:

- maybe use photoshop to put the birds on different backgrounds

- maybe not using the gallery at a place to project it 

- telling a story with the places that it goes

ways to show everything:

- contrasting the nature and the city 

- using my elephant stamp and making another more man made stamp

- putting them on the wall to connect the two themes

Alternative Space

Take another look at the Alternative Exhibition Format slideshow (on the class site). Think about which artist's work was the most interesting to you in terms of format. Make a post and talk about what the artist does with format, and why you think it is interesting, and if you think you might be considering using an alternative exhibit format write about that too.

I really like all of the exhibits that played with the relation of the pieces to each other. In a lot of them, however, the subjects of the art were similar, which is not something that i am doing. i do think that even though my own work is much different each other, i would still be able use the ideas. I think that if the locations of the pieces are different than in a normal museum it would be able to create a more cohesive exhibit. for the work that i am hoping to do during the class, there are a lot of somewhat related topics in all of them. Most of the stuff i am doing relates to nature but i also want to do a few things that portray people and man made things. the questions i have to think about is weather or not it would be more interesting to pair all the nature things together and all the human things together or ignore the topics all together. Another aspect of what will hopefully be in my exhibit is a projected image. That in itself has a lot of things that can be done with it. I have been thinking a lot about what the movie should be projected on. My fist thought would be to just have it straight on a wall but it would also be interesting to have it projected on other things. Another thing that i really liked in the slide show was the image of the three men in the gold frame. We talked about how there is a certain strangeness in having such a classical looking frame and a more modern image. I think it might be cool if the video is in a frame because the it was not the first thing that i thought of when i thought about how to show the video. it almost seems like a frame would be confining the video.  

Art and Fear

Select three quotes from the excerpt that you can relate to and type them into a post on your blog. Maybe they remind you of something that's happened to you in an art class or something you've seen someone else experience. Write about how you relate to the quote and include as many specific stories as you can.

1. "The fear that you're only pretending to do art is the (readily predictable) consequence of doubting your own artistic credentials... fear that you are not a real artist causes you to undervalue your work."

i think that this quote applies more to me from a term and a half ago but i felt drawn to it anyways. it has taken me, however angsty, a long to to be comfortable with myself and the art that i make. the feelings that beliefs portrayed above were almost exactly what i felt. for some reason the last couple art classes have helped me get over them.   

2. "In a darkened theatre the man in the tuxedo waves his hand and a pigeon appears. We call it magic. In a sunlit studio a painter waves her hand and a whole world takes form. We call it art."

i really liked this quote, not because i think that it applies to me really but because i like the imagery that it created. i mostly like the idea of a sunlit studio. Really i like the idea of a sunlit anything. i think that sunlight makes everything much better than it really is.   

3. "hovering out there somewhere cause and effect, between fears about self and fears about others, lie expectations. being one of the higher brain functions, expectations provide a means to merge imagination with calculation. But its a delicate balance - lean too far one way and your head fills with unworkable fantasies, too far the other and you spend your like generating "to do" lists." 

i like this quote because it exactly describes how i feel about the planning part of art. it's like i don't to plan too much but if i don't plan at all i get kind of lost. i think the best way for me to start a piece is to have an image of the final piece in my head and start off trying to get there but allowing things to change and happen as they come. usually i never actually get to the final thing that i imagining but usually i like the final things much better. the two extremes that she says are also right. A lot of the time i have tons of unworkable fantasies but i also find myself making a lot of "to do" lists. both are fine things to do but what matters is being able to step away from both and make real work.

Critique Response

In your opinion, what do you think the role of the critique, as it's described in this chapter, could be in a class like ours?

I think that in a class like this one, a critique is really important. Since we do not really have any instructions on which directions we should be going, time constraints or objectives that we have to reach other than the ones we set for ourselves it is hard to be objective and get stuff done. I think a critique is going to be the best way to make sure everyone is being productive. It will also be a good way to make sure the things that we are planning actually make sense.

According to this chapter and your past experiences, how can you get the most out of a critique of your own work?

when i have my work critiqued, i like to ask about the parts that i like the least and ask what other people think that i should do to make them better. i think the most helpful though is other peoples ideas about what i could do more because most of the time it is hard for me to think objectively about my work.

How can you be a helpful participant in your classmates' critiques?

i try to think about what i would want to hear about what i would want to know if the persons piece was mine. i try to ask people what they are unsure about and what they want to change. i guess i basically try to think about what i am looking for in a critique. also since i don't know what the person is thinking or needs, i try to think of a lot of different things because they probably think a lot of my ideas are not what they want to do.

first raven video

this is just a quick practice run of what i would like to be my final project 

Studio update

i have been having some trouble focusing on one thing right now so i have a few things going on at once and i have a plan forming for another unfortunately

luckily i love my studio and never want to leave so many projects might not be that bad

 

Rosemary Raspberry scone cookies with lemon glaze

still stressed

Plans for the rest of the term

i've been thinking about what i want to do for the rest of the term and there are a few things i know that i want to accomplish:

- skull painting

- detail drawings

- watercolor backgrounds 

- charcoal  

- maybe a few more flip books 

- some other paintings 

the things that i am most worried about is having all these plans and starting all of them and not finishing them. I know that i have all of these plans and things that i want to do and im worried that i am going to start them and really like them in the beginning but then i am going to lose interest. 

Flip Book

i decided that i wanted to make some flip books out of post it notes so this is the trial run of what will hopefully be much better books...

Chocolate Chip Mascarpone Cupcakes with a chocolate ganache

After a crazy week i felt like i needed to do some baking to feel better and i decided to make cupcakes. I found a recipe for these cupcakes and they sounded really fancy so I made them and they did make me feel better

Twyla Tharp reading

Throughout the pages you read there are many warnings about how artists can get into "trouble", creatively, in their work. Think about which of these you can imagine being potential issues for you and/or your classmates in the Senior Studio class. Select three of these issues, and on your blog, describe how you can see them coming up in class. Be specific in your writing! Use references (quotes) to the text and to your own work/process in your writing.

Twyla Tharp outlines several of the problems in the reading. 

- wrong materials 

- unlimited resources 

- a sense of obligation 

- wrong structure 

i feel connected to this problems mostly. i feel like i always start off with a plan and though some sort of path of self destruction, something goes wrong and it is usually one or all of those four things. Often my idea seems really good in my head but it translates really poorly to paper or i cannot choose what i want to use to make my idea. I think the best quote that she says is, "It's natural to want to establish as many ground rules as possible about form before you get down to work, but you have to choose the form that's not only appropriate to you but for your particular idea." I like this quote because it touches on the idea that for every idea, there are a million ways to translate it into some physical form, the trick is being able to pick the right one.    

However i think that my biggest problem is that i for some reason cannot commit to finishing anything. In my room i have paintings and drawings and sculptures that remain unfinished. I am frustrated by seeing them but for some reason i cannot find the motivation to finish them. 

Power Point Response

Make a list of the types of things you see in most of the studios you look at.
Why do you think these things show up more than once?
How do artists develop spaces and methods for making their most authentic work as part of a daily artistic practice?

Things in Studios:

- tons of materials

- tons of work

- things that personalize the space for the artist 

- mess

I agree with the idea that a studio should be a state of mind and less of a physical place. Ideally art would be able to be made anywhere. However i think that there are places that can make the creation of art easier. i think a studio should be a place where the physically location either eliminates distractions and enhances inspiration. Although most of the studios that we looked at were all relatively different from each other, they all seemed lived in and comfortable, which can be a different thing for everybody.